


Escaping the Birdcage

by spideypoolandvideogames



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Age Difference, Awkward Draco and Harry meeting, Bottom Scorpius, Family Fluff, Good Malfoy Family, Gryffindor Scorpius, Humour, M/M, Sassy Draco, Scorbus friendship, Scorose friendship, Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter friendship, Scorpius Malfoy/Rose Weasley friendship, kind of, slowbuild, what are my tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-25 03:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6178993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spideypoolandvideogames/pseuds/spideypoolandvideogames
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scorpius Malfoy has always loved order. A place for everything and everything has its place and all that jazz. He liked planning and organizing. He knew exactly what he was doing with his life, so of course James Sirius Potter would come along and ruin everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi this fic is still incomplete and this is chapter one of ? And may be turned into a series depending on how it goes and I will be uploading a chapter every week at least so I really hope you like it...

Scorpius Malfoy had a very fine childhood, thank you very much.

His mum worked in a boring office in the Ministry and he was pretty sure that his dad actually did something that put food on the table but most of the time the man played Guitar Hero and sang Celestina Warbeck songs when he thought no one was home. 

He went to a muggle school and had lots of 'friends' who thought he was cool because of his big house and dad with the 'awesome tattoo'. He was smart, popular and had the best comic book collection in his side of the Pacific.

So yes, Scorpius enjoyed his childhood, that was until he turned eleven years old and was told he would have to leave his entire life behind in favour of one where everyone hated him for a past that wasn't even his. His father, with a pained expression, taught him what his tattoo actually meant and his mother said that people would forget about his last name when they got to know him. All the while Scorpius sat there, too shocked to react.

It all made sense then; his dad never leaving the house, all the owls flying past the window carrying messages that the House Elves picked up before Scorpius got to read them. 

Suddenly a memory of when he was five or so, his father took him to Diagon Alley. Everyone had given them horrible looks, Scorpius had just thought that they were all just mad at the poor weather or something. With disgusting clarity he remembered a woman who had shouted at them, calling them names like 'scum' and 'Death Eater'-and wasn't that a pretty word- his father had looked at the ground and said for Scorpius to do so as well. Young Scorpius had just thought the old lady was crazy and never thought twice about it. He didn't even know what a 'Death Eater' was anyway.

Scorpius couldn't believe how dumb he had been. All the dirty looks, not being allowed to see other magical children. Going to a muggle school for God's sake! 

And now his parents where expecting him to live in a place like that! How could they expect him to do that? Why should he pay for the things that his father had done? Why should he suffer? He almost said all this out loud, but the look of pure anguish in his father's eyes stopped him. Instead, he gripped both their hands and nodded, receiving a watery smile from his father and a proud hug from his mother. She said she loved him, and that he was too good for the world but Scorpius didn't answer. He was afraid his voice would break if he did.

So that was how he found himself in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, waiting for his turn to be sorted. His parents had taught him what to expect, but it was nowhere near the real thing. Everywhere he looked there was another sneering face, he heard harsh whispers and felt the rough shoves in his very soul. For the first time Scorpius wished for his mother's hair. It was how they all recognized him; his bright blond hair. 

Because that was all it was really; hair. But these people took it as a death wish. Scorpius was sure there was some irony there. 

Somehow these kids knew more about Scorpius than he did. He could hear what they were saying, stories of war and cowardice. Scorpius tried not to be bitter, he really did, but it was hard.

After a lonely train ride in which no one had dared enter his compartment he had gotten here, his 'home'. Scorpius didn't really understand why everyone was freaking out over the school either, it was only another building. A prison really, a place that would serve as his own personal hell for the next 7 years. Scorpius wouldn't be surprised if he died here from sheer bitterness. Either that or the glare that brunette boy was giving him.

Who ever said that Malfoys were dramatic eh?

At least the Great Hall looked cool. The ceiling was apparently transparent so it showed the snow falling calmly from outside. It had snowed much earlier this year, it reminded him of when he was younger, building snowmen with mum and having snowball fights between the three of them. He smiled at the memory of ambushing dad behind the oak tree in the gardens. They had all caught cold the next day, which made it better because mum got to stay home with them both. 

Scorpius choked at the memory of his parents. They had said the real goodbye the night before, it was filled with apologies and laughter and love. The goodbye at the station was a squeeze on the shoulder and a few whispered words. Scorpius didn't want to think too deeply about that.

His name was coming up. 

Then, the moment came, the elderly headmistress said his name. Heads turned and whispers broke out, Scorpius stared at the floor as he sat on the stool, wishing for the floor to swallow him up. 

He shivered as the hat drop on his head as the voice invaded his head, "Ahhh, another Malfoy eh? Interesting one, nothing like your father. Smart, like your mother, and ambitious too...no, I know just where you belong boy... GRYFFINDOR!" 

The entire hall was silent, even the teacher (McGonagall, was it?) was stunned for a moment, before giving an embarrassed cough and removing the hat. People gave him both confused and dirty looks as Scorpius walked over to the red and gold table but he couldn't care less, he was too busy fighting off a panic attack.

Soon the list began again but it all sounded like white noise to Scopius. His heart was throbbing in his ears and he felt hot all over, like he was on fire. It felt like something was binding his chest, tightening with every breath, until eventually he couldn't even breathe anymore. Everything in the world was distant, far away from him as Scorpius stared at the table, wishing for home. Wishing for his sarcastic mother and loving father, he wanted his caring grandmother. Hell he would even have taken Grandfather at that point. He wished this was all just a dream, because there was no way that Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy was a Gryffindor. It was simply unheard of!

Somewhere in the back of his mind he realised that the sorting had finished and people were eating and talking but Scorpius was still trying to figure out how to breathe. 

"Are you alright?" A voice asked from his right. His head snapped up at the caring voice. It was a girl, his year he guessed. She had bright red hair that fell down her back, a pale kind face and an abundance of freckles. Her brow drawn in concern. "You look quite worried," she looked him up and down and he realised he should probably answer. 

"Yes," he said, then cursing himself, he was always bad at these things. 'Come on,' he thought, 'you're a Gryffindor now, man up' and wasn't that a terrifying thought?

"Worried that is, I'm-" he cut himself of, not wanting to embarrass himself further. Scorpius was never good at meeting new people, he would always trip over his own words or offend someone somehow. Scorpius really didn't want to offend this girl.

"Why are you worried?" She looked at him out of the corner of her eye as she grabbed a handful of food. Her tone was gentle, like talking to a young child, Scorpius didn't know whether to be annoyed or thankful for that.

"I- I ummm-" 

"Hey Rosie! Always knew you were a lion, Freddie owes me a gall- wait. What are you talking to that Malfoy kid for?" A voice shouted from further down the table, he sounded annoyed. Scorpius turned to see an older boy with dark hair, as soon as their gazes caught the boy stood. Scorpius gulped as the table slowly went quiet around them.

The girl, Rosie, looked at the boy with an equally annoyed expression. 

"Because I want to, James." She said defiantly, her chin raised and eyes bright.

The boy came over and sat in front of them as if he belonged there, looking at Scorpius as if he was something disgusting found at the bottom of his shoe. "He's Malfoy's kid," his brown eyes flicked up to Scorpius' hair. "Can't believe that Death Eater took Al's place." 

At some point in the boy speech Scorpius had stopped breathing, he couldn't really tell at which point. He hated this. He hated that the boy talked about him as if he wasn't there, like he didn't deserve to be there. Like he was nothing.

Rosie gasped, "James!" The boy only narrowed his eyes further, "Apologize right now or I swear I will never speak to you again." 

"What is wrong with you Rosie? Have you forgotten about all the stories about his... his kind?" At this point most of the hall was silent, but all the professors were too busy talking to notice the argument between the two. 

"Actually, he's my friend now, so apologize or leave." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. The boy opened and closed his mouth a few times before eventually giving a loud huff, and with one final glare at Scorpius, stormed back to his seat.

"Sorry about him." Rosie said once he left, and Scorpius nodded rapidly. The word 'friend' was still running around his mind. "Are you okay?" 

"Oh, I'm fine. And thank you...for sticking up for me." 

She flashed him a bright smile and with a flick of her head she stuck out her hand. 

"Lets start this again shall we? Rose Weasley."

Scorpius stared at the girls hand as if it held the secret of the universe. Scorpius had never had a magical friend before. He only had five real friends who actually cared about him in the entire world; Luke, Sarah, Mum, Dad and his pet ferret, Gordon. All his other 'friends' were only interested in his money or huge house.

He had been friends with Luke since he was four when they met in nursery, both of them were bullied by the other children, Scorpius because of his strange name and stutter, and Luke because he was friends with Scorpius. It nearly killed the blond to leave his first real friend. Sarah was Luke's sister, and they bonded over their love for Arctic Monkeys and comic books. She was 3 years older than them both and taught him how to dance. Luke always teased them both before Sarah would throw a ballet shoe in his face.

But this girl was different to those fake friends. Because here he was nothing. But still she chose to help him. She cared without even being given a reason to. It was like nursery all over again. The mean bullies who picked on him because he was different before someone with a heart came along to save him.

For the first time since he was sorted Scorpius smiled and took the girls hand, "Pleased to meet you Rose, I'm Scorpius Malfoy."


	2. The Catastrophic Case of the Chudley Cannons Casualty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cool chapter title right? Much alliteration, such technique. Enjoy!

Scorpius was in third year when it started.

It was a long time coming if he was being honest, he expected it to happen his first week in the school. But one week turned into two, then three, which turned into a month, and then a whole three years passed. So by the time it actually happened Scorpius had let down his defences.

Terrible mistake really.

Scorpius wasn't sure why he woke up on that one dreary Tuesday Morning with bright orange hair and skin. Nor did he know just how he became that way in the first place. But instead of voicing his concerns to his fellow classmates like a good Malfoy would have, he chose to scream like a teenage girl -a fact he would never admit to under pain of death.

And apparently when someone starts screaming at six in the morning it attracts attention. And for Scorpius Malfoy, this attention came in the form of James Sirius Potter.

The brunette laughed and Scorpius was momentarily stunned at how quickly the boy had come, it was as if he had been waiting for him. Soon the younger boys confusion turned to anger at the smug look the other gave him.

Scorpius didn't really know what to think of James, sure he gave Scorpius glares whenever the older boy saw him sitting with Rose but he had never even spoken to him outside of their one-sided-almost-not-really-conversations in the corridors where James would torment him. In fact Scorpius had practically forgotten about the boy after a while. 

"Looking pretty, Malfoy. Trying out a new look?" James taunted, and Scorpius really hated him then, because even though he knew it was a joke and all James wanted to do was make fun of him he still blushed at being called pretty. He was pathetic. Apparently the elder realised his embarrassment too, because he smirked even wider.

"Why did you d-do this?" He tried to sound tough and affirmative but he always stuttered when he was angry. 

James laughed in his face. Scorpius resisted the urge to punch him in the jaw.

"Why did I d-d-do what?" James mimicked, coming close to the now orange boy and making Scopius step back like the coward he was. How he ended up in Gyffindor he would never know. "You can't prove I did anything... See 'ya Malfoy," and with that he turned and left, leaving Scorpius completely alone.

James didn't have to tell him he couldn't do anything. He already knew it very well. He knew he wouldn't be able to get James in trouble, of course he couldn't, the boy was Harry Potter's kid for Merlin sake! Hell he would probably get a medal for pranking the Malfoy kid. No one would listen to Scorpius' word over his. He was a Potter and Scorpius was a Malfoy. That was all they would ever be. Two sides of the same coin.

Scorpius sighed and went to the bathroom to try and clean whatever was on his skin and in his hair. As he looked in the mirror Scorpius knew that life wasn't going to get any better than the orange hell he had found himself in.

_o0o_

"WHAT HAPPENED?" Was his welcome to the Great Hall an hour later, skin scrubbed raw yet still with an orange tint. He didn't even want to think about his hair.

Scorpius didn't normally care about his looks, he didn't really make any effort with his hair, all he knew was that it was longer on top than on the sides. Apparently is was fashionable. It was as blond as his father's but as thick as his mother's. Meaning that he could do nothing with it other than go for the bed head look. Although Rose said it suited him. He had also been given the worst genes and couldn't even go outside without countless sun-block charms. Damn his Black genes. 

Rose ran over to him, her bright red hair bouncing behind her. "You look like you've spent two weeks in Hawaii," she grabbed his cheeks in both hands and kneaded his face for a while. The girl knew nothing about personal space. Scorpius didn't mind too much, in fact he found it refreshing, Merlin forbid he would ever tell her though, she would be attached to him like leech and Scorpius did have his limits.

"It's nothing Rose," he gently removed her hands and sat down, grabbing the jam and keeping his head down. He could see James and co laughing at him from further down the table. Scorpius realised that James had been alone that morning, which was strange. He was almost always with Fred and Louis Weasley, plus another boy who Scopius always forgot the name of. Dylan maybe?

"Woah. Is that another long lost family member I see," came a voice from behind Scorpius, "but seriously Scor why the sudden change, decided bleach blond was gettin old?" Albus Severus Potter sat down next to him, his bright green eyes narrowed in concern and confusion along with a twinkle of humour.

"Blond hair is like mulled wine, my boy, it only gets better with age." He smiled as the younger Potter visibly relaxed.

"Tell us later?" Al asked. Rose gave him a worried look so Scorpius nodded quickly and they ate their breakfast while listening to Al talked about his latest crush, Alice Longbottom. He had a new obsession every week, honestly. 

He remembered when he first became friends with Al, it was the first day of lessons and their Potions Professor partnered everyone up randomly to help everyone make friends with people outside of their own houses. Rose was sent off with some boy from Hufflepuff and when it finally came to Scorpius he was actually shaking. He was partnered with a thin girl from Ravenclaw but she outright refused to work with Scorpius. Everyone was sending him looks and whispering and it looked like the blond was going to spend the entire year alone when a confident voice spoke up.

"I'll work with him," Everyone had turned around and the class gave a collective gasp, Scorpius didn't know why, all he saw was a thin boy with a crop of black hair that was too wild for his head and a tie that matched his eyes. Scorpius wasn't sure what the boys motive was but he doubted it was good. Who in their right mind would willingly work with a Malfoy? 

"Are you sure, Mr Potter? You don't have to, in fact you can have your pick of anyone, it's the least I can do, considering..." The professor said, sending doubtful looks at the boy. Potter? Scorpius was sure he had heard that name before. 

"It's fine, I would be happy to work with Scorpius," the boy flashed him a smile and Scorpius didn't know what to do. He didn't expect so much kindness from these strangers. In the end he just gifted the boy with a shy smile, more of a lift of his lips really, but it was the best he could offer without breaking down crying at how unknowingly kind the bog was to him. And that would be embarrassing. His mother always said he was a drama queen.

The Potter boy moved over to one of the tables near the back so Scorpius followed, still unsure of what to do with himself. He had never felt so out of place before, back in his old school he had known who he was. He knew who only liked him for his money and who liked him for himself, here he had no idea who he was. It was like starting a new life with only a few bits of information telling him who he was and how he was supposed to act. Because here he wasn't Scorpius, the quiet wallflower with a few extra coins in his pocket. Here he was Malfoy, the Death Eater's son.

"Hey," the boy had said, pulling him out of his thoughts of names and identities. 

"Hi," he had replied, conversationalist he was.

"I'm Albus Severus Potter and yes I know it is the worst middle name ever," Albus smiled freely, and his eyes were a bright green and Scopius wondered how people could be so cruel when the boy sat in front of him was the paragon of kindess. The boy seemed to give out smiles freely, offering them to anyone who chose to take them. Scorpius decided right then and there that he would make an effort, that no matter what Scorpius would be kind and giving. Just like this boy. Just like Rose. 

"I would kill for a name like Severus, literally anything is better than Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy," Scorpius offered a smile and had watched as it was returned.

_o0o_

Scorpius had asked Rose not to talk to James about it, so of course she did. 

"Honestly Albus, I cannot believe your brother!" 

"What?" Scorpius shouted, although it came out a gurgled mess as Scorpius nearly choked from where his head was stuck under the running tap. 

'Wash your hair they said. You won't suffocate from swallowing soapy water they said,' Scorpius thought indignantly as he finished coughing his lungs out.

That day had been terrible enough without accidentally killing himself too. Everyone had stared at him in lesson and he had even lost some house points for 'inappropriate skin colour distracting others' or some crap like that. He huffed, you would think that being bright orange was bad enough without an hour of scrubbing dirty cauldrons.

"I told you not to talk to him Rose, I can fight my own battles." He huffed, checking his hair in the mirror to see that he still looked like he belonged in a Weasley family portrait.

"Oh yeah? And what would you have done to- as you call it -fight your own battles?" She placed both her hands on her hips and did the best impression of Hermione Granger-Weasley Scorpius had ever seen.

He didn't really have an answer to that so instead he chose to pout into the mirror, hoping for sympathy. It was lost cause, he was done for, no more were his blond locks that fell over his face beautifully, no more was his perfect pale skin like snow against a dark night. He would have to face the world as a fluorescent orange skinned freak. Oh the humanity!

"Leave him alone Rose, can't you see he's in mourning?" Albus caught Scor's eye in the mirror and winked, earning the infamous Malfoy eye roll TM in return. 

"Can you believe what he told me?" She looks around wildly, pacing around the bathroom while her robes billowed behind her, "He said it was payback. Payback!" 

"For what?" Albus asked, sharing a confused look with Scorpius.

Rose's mouth shut like a trap, her face losing colour, "Ummm..." that was a bad sign, she was lost for words. Rose was never lost for words.

In their whole three years of friendship he had only seen her lost for words twice. The first was when she had accidentally knocked his favourite Marvel first editions out of the window when trying to feed her owl, Olivia. Scorpius still hadn't forgiven her for that treachery. The second time was at the start of the year, Lorcan Scamander had asked her to come with him to Hogsmede and she had been too shocked to say anything. After one awkward date Rose decided they were better at being friends. The two teased her relentlessly about it.

"Rose," Al stood, walking over to her and placing his large hands on her smaller shoulders, Rose had always been too thin. "What was it payback for?" He spoke calmly, saying each syllable carefully. Despite this Scorpius could hear the urgency laced in his words. Apparently Rose did too.

"You." She said quietly, looking at Al's shoes, "He said that he pranked Scorpius because he's taking you away from him..." 

"He...He thinks I've forgotten about him?" Albus asked quietly. Rose didn't meet his eyes as she nodded. 

Scorpius felt like he was interrupting a private moment. He told himself to breathe, it wasn't his fault. Albus was his friend. Scorpius deserved friends. James was just being dramatic. He said it like mantra and chose to focus on something else.

They were all silent for a while, Rose guilty looking down at her shoes, Al trying to process what he was hearing and Scorpius trying to decide whether or not he could pull off ginger.

"Well at least I'll look good at all the Cannons games eh?" Scorpius finally said, because it wasn't natural for Al to be frowning for such a long time. The two cousins looked up at him and let out their own individual quiet chuckles, which turned into outrageous laughter the longer they looks at Scorpius' orange form. He gave them a shy smile just because he could.

It widened into a grin as he saw Al brighten, a sad Al always made Scorpius nervous. He never knew what to do, it was so out of the ordinary for Al to be sad. Either of them really: Rose was completely all or nothing, she would either be laughing at everything she heard or would be so depressed she could hardly get out of bed in the morning. Although Al was sometimes quiet or reserved he was hardly ever unhappy, he was like his brother in that way. Except James' smiles always held a hint of malice, or his lip tweaked up in arrogance. Al's smiles were pure and happy. Scorpius was silly to think they were alike in any thing but blood.

Scorpius loved their smiles. He liked Rose's proud grin when she answered a question correctly or Al's slow smirk when he won an argument against his fire haired cousin -although Scorpius didn't see that particular smile often. Scorpius had often found himself longing for the fire he saw in his friends; his own had seemed to have ebbed from his soul at some point. Scorpius would trade anything to get it back, but with every day that passed he feared that the spark inside him would never again light. He feared he was doomed to a world of numb, bitter darkness that would one day consume him.

"Come on Rose, let's plan our revenge." Al's voice pulled him out of his dark thoughts, "we're going to show them what they get when they mess with our best friend. Scor, you're on washing duty. We reassemble on the morrow. FORWARD!" Al commanded before marching out of the bathroom, Rose following behind with a quick wave. 

Scorpius was still smiling an hour later when he thought about how casually Al had called him his best friend, his thoughts of fire and darkness forgotten.

Nothing could bring him down. 

At least that's what he thought anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a kinda quick update cos I have no life c: xxx


	3. A Lesson in Cheating

But Scor it's perfect!" Al moaned, head in his hands and puppy eyes activated. 

"But it's dangerous... never mind the fact that it goes against every rule in the book," Scorpius said as he wrote the conclusion of his Transfiguration essay. 

"Scorpius, you're a Gyrffindor. We're meant to break the rules and be dangerous, it's the definition of Gryffindor!" Rose reasoned, her full attention on the blond as she had finished her essay days before.

Nerd.

"It isn't going to work, I'm not going to put his life in danger just because he pulled a dumb prank on me. I just don't care enough." He looked up, wiping his brow with his ink stained hand. He didn't know why he always left his homework until the last minute, but then again, with an entire library full of books just waiting to be read and discovered, who could blame him? Plus he was teaching Albus to dance, which was no easy task.

The boy wanted to ask Alice Longbottom, to who he had become obsessed with, to come with him to the Winter Ball. The Ball had become tradition since the school was rebuilt after the war, everyone from first to last year were welcome. Scorpius had been dragged there in first year by Rose but he had managed to slip away quickly. He hated it, he had found it tedious and a waste of time, at least that was what he had told his friends. But really it was because he had been physically repulsed by the horrid shuffling that passed as dancing there. 

Scorpius had always loved dancing. He moved beautifully to music, as if he was born to do so, at least that's what Sarah had told him, Scorpius hadn't shown Rose or Al his dancing before, not purposefully or anything, he didn't try to hide it; it had just never come up in conversation. His favourite type of dancing was ballet, although he would take that to his grave. He loved the spins and lifts and the overall joy of movement and weightlessness he felt when ever he danced. 

So when Albus had asked him if he could teach him, he jumped on the chance. He imagined teaching him muggle free style or other modern dances, because he didn't peg Al to be a contemporary kind of guy. 

"Waltz?" He had asked in disbelief, he was met with enthusiastic nodding, "You want me to teach you how to waltz?" A waltz, of all the types of dance... he chose a waltz, of course it was an incredibly graceful dance and when done well could be beautiful. But it was still a waltz. A waltz!

"Yeah, do you not know it or something? I always thought you knew how to dance, you know with being Pureblood and all," Albus had the audacity to ask. 

"Of course I know how to waltz!" 

"Great, see you after dinner in the Room of Requirement." The Slytherin had walked off then, a smug skip in his steps, Scorpius hated him sometimes. 

Albus was as useless as his father, making it very difficult for Scorpius to teach him, and therefore resulting in the blond to having to do all his homework the day before the lesson.

"Yeah, do you not know it or something? I always thought you knew how to dance, you know with being Pureblood and all," Albus had the audacity to ask. 

"Of course I know how to do the waltz!" 

"Great, see you after dinner in the Room of Requirement." The Slytherin had walked off then. Scorpius hated him sometimes. 

Albus was as useless as his father, tripping over his feet at every step, making it very difficult for Scorpius to teach him, and therefore resulting in the blond to having to do all his homework the day before the lesson. 

Scorpius was brought back to the present as Albus let out a huff and Rose's mouth drew into a deep frown.

"But we need to get him back, if not in revenge then in a matter of principle," she nodded as if to assure herself. She got awfully passionate about strange things. Scorpius had learned the hard way never to even mention the words 'House Elf' in her presence unless you wanted a three hour long rant on inequality and cruelty.

"I'm sure that my feeble heart can manage," he moved onto his Potions homework -forget about House Elves, the real injustice is of how much homework everyone was given- which would take him around an hour to complete. Scorpius sighed as he heard the clock strike eleven.

"Scor..." Al began, his voice hesitant and open. Scorpius sighed inwardly; he wasn't ready for a guilt trip. "I've lived with James my entire life, so trust me, if you don't retaliate he'll walk all over you. You can't just avoid this, we need to fight back," 

Damn him and his valid points.

"Fine..." his two friends cheered so he quickly interuppted them, getting a tiny sliver of pleasure at destroying their evil plans, "but I won't do that prank, I'll only do one where there is no possibility of him getting hurt."

"Scor he won't get hurt! If there is anyone who can do this spell it's me, no one will get hurt... I promise," she stuck out her pinkie finger and with a dramatic sigh he did the same. He had a bad feeling about this. 

Al whooped and gave them both a hug before setting off back to the Slytherin common room under that infernal cloak his stupid father had given him. 

'Potters, honestly... it's like they only have one brain to share between them.' He thought with a sigh.

When he had done his Potions work -which had taken _two _hours, by the way- he looked over at Rose, who was practicing the wand movements for the charm.__

__He tilted his head to the side as he stared at her. From the stories he had been told about her parents Scorpius found that the girl most resembled her father in personality. While she had the brains of her mother everything else about her was her father._ _

__She held herself with a smooth confidence rather than the rigid grace of Hermione Granger-Weasley, and while most of her opinions sounded as if they were choreographed by her mother she presented them in a calm, almost lazy way that made people want to listen rather than being told to. But despite this she was outspoken in a way that was entirely her own, she studied like her mother, continuously and tirelessly, but presented herself like her father, carelessly and sometimes even hopelessly._ _

__Scorpius had always been interested in peoples mannerisms, he would watch people and create stories of their lives, creating histories and memories that would never be remembered or watched. Even as a young child he was always looking for something more in life, asking questions about everything he came across. His father would have been annoyed if not for how happy Scorpius became after getting a question answered. All his life Scorpius had searched for purpose. He had seen beauty in places others did not even see. He saw life in places people were blind to._ _

__Scorpius couldn't sleep that night. The shadows played tricks on his mind and the moonlight cast an errie glow over the room. He laid awake, worrying about the prank and things he didn't understand. He had a bad feeling in his stomach that he tried to will away but still it stayed, a powerful ache that sat at the bottom of his torso. With a sigh he turned on his back and stared at the ceiling until he eventually succumbed into the gentle arms of sleep._ _

___o0o__ _

__"I have a bad feeling about this..." Scorpius said on the day of the match, everyone was in the Great Hall chatting about who were going to win the game later in the day. One of the Weasley cousins was even taking bets._ _

__"Scor, it'll be fine, Rosie here has practised the charm at least ten times already. He's my brother, and as much of a prat he can be sometimes I still love him and wouldn't put him in danger." Al rolled his eyes and grabbed at the last piece of toast._ _

__Scorpius scowled, damn that stupid toast thief, "Shouldn't you be eating the snakes toast?" He asked, taking a sip of his coffee. Ah the sweet joy of caffeine, even in the darkest of times coffee would always love him. He should right a sonnet about coffee. An Ode to Coffee would be its name, 'oh thou coffee, with thy bitter tongue, bring me faith that will fill my.... lung...'_ _

__"Oh but my dearest lion, you would be lost without my superior knowledge and cunning to save you. Without me you would probably be stuck in a tree trying to save a poor, helpless kneazel," Albus said with a grin._ _

__"But is this even a prank anymore? Isn't it just cheating, plus I'm making my own team lose. I thought that pranking was supposed to mean the pranker actually gains something."_ _

__"Well you gain the satisfaction of getting one over on James, which sounds pretty good to me," Rose said, mouth full with pieces of chewed up crumpet. Scorpius' inner snob shivered._ _

__"Speaking of which, he's coming over." Albus looked up just over Scorpius' shoulder. The blond instantly tensed._ _

__'What does he want? Does he know? Oh Merlin he knows, I'm dead, I'm dead, I am so dead.' Scorpius thought, hands becoming clammy from where they gripped the steadily cooling mug._ _

__"Decided that orange wasn't your colour, Malfoy?" The boy asked from just behind him, his tone cold. Scorpius didn't dare turn._ _

__"Actually Jamie, myself and Scor were just discussing getting matching hair colours, bright pink should do Scor eh?" Al said, making eye contact with his brother._ _

__"Yeah, what do you think Jamie, does Scor suit pink? I always thought he would look good in a more pastel blue, to bring out his eyes," Rose began, before a slow, smug smile crept onto her face. "But I thought I should ask you, seen as though you spend so much time-"_ _

__"I came to say that if Malfoy doesn't catch the snitch he's gonna pay for it, this is the biggest match of the season," The brunette paused while the younger boy stared into the depths of his -now cold- coffee and wished he could drown himself in its caffeinated glow. "And he's too pale for pink, he's practically a corpse already."_ _

__With that the boy scoffed and Albus' eyes followed him back to his seat._ _

__"Guys..." the blond began, still staring at his coffee._ _

__"No," Rose interrupted him this time, "now it just got personal, he threatens us, we threaten him. You need to stop letting people walk over you Scor," she cast him a nervous eye and he immediately shrank, feeling weak under her imperious gaze._ _

__Scorpius chose not the answer._ _

__Rose gave him a small smile, "James isn't going to get hurt, trust me."_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hai


	4. Of Punching, Planning and Blond Boys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sleep deprivation + sadness = this

James got hurt. 

Although not in the way Scorpius was expecting.

The plan had gone smoothly, the match had begun, James had glared at him every time he flew near the goal posts and the snitch remained unseen for the first twenty minutes of the game. 

Then, Scorpius looked over to the Gryffindor stands and saw Rose with a large smirk on her face and Al looking equally smug. It started when the Ravenclaw chaser made a shot. 

Under normal circumstances it would have been incredibly easy to deflect, all James had to do was veer slightly to the right and cut off the ball. Except that his broom made an unexpected jerk to the left, resulting in the ball going straight through the hoops. 

All of Ravenclaw cheered as James looked confusingly between the hoop and his broom. It would have been comical except for the look of pure anger that crossed boys features. 

This continued through the entire game, at random intervals the quaffle would change direction and fly into the hoops or a beater would bat the bludger one way and it would go straight to James', who would have to duck quickly to avoid it. 

Scorpius had stopped looking for the snitch by then and instead laughed unabashedly at James as the boy turned as red as his robes in anger. 

He was so busy laughing that he almost didn't see the gold blur in the corner of his eye.

Almost.

Instantly he flew after it, performing intricate spins and dives as he searched for the elusive snitch. Finally he saw it to his left, but not before the Ravenclaw seeker flew towards it. The girl was light and fast but she lacked balance. Scorpius smirked. 

She used her advantage in speed to get in front of him, her dark hair blowing behind her and obscuring his view. He angled down until he could once again see the snitch. Willing his broom to go faster as the girl reached out, her fingers almost grazing the snitch.

Suddenly the snitch curved upwards and the girl stumbled, Scorpius took advantage of her confusion and grazed past her, twisting around and stretching his arm forward. Soon the girl was back at his side. Only one arm was holding onto her broom and Scorpius almost felt regret as he curved himself around her, almost knocking her off her broom in the process. 

His fingers just brushed the snitch as it snapped to the left. By now the crowd was cheering loudly but Scorpius ignored everything as he followed the golden ball. Soon the girl caught up to him again until they were almost neck and neck, scorpius' fingers just the tiniest bit in front of hers. At some point they had begun shoving each other out of the way, teeth bared and each unwilling to give up. 

But that was just part of the plan. 

The snitch flew upwards just as the girl tried to give him a particularly hard shove, instead she clipped his tail bone and fell from her broom as Scorpius soured upwards, following the snitch with complete concentration. 

So much concentration in fact, that Scorpius didn't see the bludger coming towards him until it was too late. All he remembered was feeling his fingers clasp around the snitch as he was swallowed by darkness. 

_o0o_

Scorpius had never had a quidditch accident before. He didn't play it much as a child and only joined the team in second year because his father thought he should 'broaden his horizons'. 

Of chose he had gotten bruises and scrapes, but he was never injured seriously. In fact Scorpius didn't remember ever being hurt bad enough to warrant seeking professional medical help. 

Neither had he stayed in the Hospital Wing for long, sure he went there when he felt ill or that time Rose broke her arm from falling down the stairs and he had to comfort her for a few hours. But in his short time there he had never really payed much attention to the decor of the room.

Either way, Scorpius didn't remember seeing their flying teacher, Professor Walker, painted onto the ceiling of the Hospital Wing.

'Maybe it had been done recently,' He thought, head pounding and unable to move. Suddenly James Potter appeared as well, and didn't he get around? In the past week Scorpius had seen the boy around more than his own reflection. 'Weird design to paint on the ceiling though.' 

Slowly, Scorpius' senses came back to him. In the back of his mind he knew he was outside but he chose to overlook that. The Hospital Wing was a much nicer place to be after all. He registered being moved and carried then folded into awkward positions until he was almost stood up, leaning on something very solid and warm. He liked it. He didn't like how much his head hurt though. 

"Its fine," said a soft voice, he recognised it from somewhere, although his head was too fuzzy to think of it, "Walker said you might have a concussion, so your head probably should hurt," 

'Oh,' He thought absently, 'I must have said that out loud.'

"Yeah, you did." The voice said. Scorpius liked that voice, it was deep and manly and had a jovial tint towards it that Scorpius liked. Scorpius knew that voice from somewhere. 

At some point Scorpius decided he was moving, because his leg hurt slightly, but the pain was distant and numb, like it was a memory. He would have looked around but his eyes hurt when he opened them and things that hurt were bad. 

His head hurt and his mouth felt like it was full of cotton wool.

He heard a woman, she spoke quickly and with a familiar accent. 

"No, I'll bring him..." the voice said, his voice harsh. He liked the voice. Had he mentioned that? He would have told him too if he could have opened his mouth. 

Suddenly he couldn't feel his leg and he was being folded around again. He didn't feel well. 

He thought he heard voices shouting his name but he chose not to dwell on it, as long as it wasn't the nice voice he would be okay. He didn't care about any other voices right then. 

Time passed a lot quicker after that. He was brought to the Hospital Wing -now free of all ceiling art- and was given nasty potions and at some point the nice voice left and was replaced by harsher, louder voices that leaked with worry and concern. So naturally, Scorpius ignored them and chose to go to sleep. 

Although, much sooner than he would have liked, Scorpius woke up. His head felt heavy and when he tried to sit up his arms didn't work properly and a harsh pain swept up his side. He must have cursed because the next thing he knew one of the voices was at his side. It was urgent but soft at the same time. 

"Mum?" He asked, because his memory was fuzzy and he couldn't pin point who it was.

"Almost," the voice replied cryptically, "try opening your eyes for me, yeah?" 

With great effort and huge amounts of blinking Scorpius opened his eyes, it was too bright in the room, everything was vibrant whites or sharp pastels. Scorpius didn't even know pastels could be sharp.

But the worst thing for his eyes was the bright red that covered half of his vision, it was blurry at first but over time it became more refined until Scorpius could count each individual hair. 

"Rose?" 

"Got there eventually," she smiled, and Scorpius barely registered himself smiling back. He felt numb everywhere. 

"What happened?" The blond asked. He remembered James flailing around and flying after the snitch before finally catching it. Then everything was blurred after that. He couldn't even remember how he got there.

Rose looked over him anxiously, as if debating whether or not to tell him, "Please," he added, "I just want to know," he sent her his best puppy eyed look and she eventually heaved a sigh.

"Fine. You remember everything until you got hit right?" Scorpius nodded, "Okay, well you... fell, from really high up. You were so lucky that Andy Phillips was close enough that he could cast a cushioning charm or else you would have come out a lot worse than this." She paused, looking just over Scorpius' shoulder. 

Scorpius couldn't really imagine Andy Phillips doing anything nice for him, he was a half blood and his uncle had been killed in the war. His father had been bitten by that werewolf man too, he was lucky to be alive. So of course Phillips blames Scorpius. The blond couldn't exactly judge him though, who else was there left to blame? All the known Death Eaters had been locked in Azkaban years before, the only reason his family had gotten out of it was because Harry Potter had spoken at their trial. Dad never let it go, and could often be found mumbling about 'owing a life debt to that bumbling idiot'. 

So Scorpius was more than surprised to find out the boy had helped him, but then again, he was the captain of the Gryffindor team and a Prefect, so he might have gotten in trouble for not doing so. 

"Still, the chushioning charm itself wasn't strong enough to protect you completely and you- well you got a concussion, three fractured ribs and a fractured femur, as well as the fact you messed up your arm terribly." she spoke in a rush, naming his injuries like they were food on a shopping list. Scorpius knew it was a ploy. He reached out with his left hand and grabbed hers, feeling her fingers clasp desperately around his own.

"Go on." he said gently.

She took a deep breath before continuing, "I was just about to run out over everyone to get to you but Al held me back, saying we had to be smart. So we both ran over to his dorm and got the cloak before sneaking down here." A small smile graced her features, "You wouldn't believe what we saw..." Scorpius was just about to ask when the doors burst open and Astoria Malfoy burst through. 

"Mum?" He asked,feeling like a broken record. He tried to sit up futher but he only got a sharp pain through his right side in return.

"Yes you complete, incompetent idiot," she said fondly, eyes red rimmed and smile watery. She grasped his face in her hands and Scorpius grinned at her. He missed her. 

"Where's Da-" 

The doors burst open again and Draco Malfoy hopped through, still trying to put his shoe on. Honestly it was like a muggle soap opera with the amount of drama going on. 

"Soot." The blond man began indignantly, "In. My. Shoe. I don't even know how that is possible, you would think they could install a proper floo system... In my shoe for Merlin's sake! Oh Scor you look terrible. What's wrong with your hair?" The man came over, and despite the disinterest in is his words, his eyes were open and afraid. His forehead held angry lines that were sure to cause wrinkles and his mouth held no hint of humour. 

Plus his shoes didn't match his belt, and Draco Malfoy never dressed to any less than perfection unless he was in severe distress. 

Suddenly he realised Rose was still holding onto his hand with a death grip. 

"Mum, Dad...this is Rose, my best friend," he shrugged his left shoulder seen as though every other part of him was in pain or being gripped by a worried female. 

His mother reacted first, her head snapped up from staring at him then towards the girl , "Oh, hello Rose, Scorp has told us so much about you, I can't believe we're only meeting you now," she spoke in a posh, aristocratic drawl as she always did when she was stressed out or worried. 

"Likewise," Rose replied.

'Well I'll be,' Scorpius thought as he looked around at the three, marvelling at all the similarities they shared that he had failed to notice over the years, 'Maybe the Malfoys and Weasleys are closer related than first thought.'

His parents sat next to his bed, his mother beside Rose. She gripped his shoulder and smiled every so often, but her face was dark and her brow was heavy. 

Scorpius sent a look to his father, who was sat at his feet, running his finger up and down Scorpius' shin. He looked worried, his eyes were vacant and his features looked solemn.

"I'm fine, you know. It's not like I died or anything," His father's hand stopped and his mother's grip tightened. Rose sent him a small smile. 

"Ummm... Mum...Dad, what's wrong?" 

"Where's Potter? Are you two still friends?" His father asked, the man's eyes darted between his mother and his leg.

"Dad-"

"He's talking to James about something, he said he would be back as soon as he could, but it has been a while. I'll umm.. I'll leave you two alone with your son. Bye Scor." She gave his hand a final squeeze before leaving quietly. 

"What's happening? I'm okay, if your worried or anything..." Scorpius trailed off, his head was hurting too much to translate the strange behaviour between his parents. 

"We're just worried love, I promise," his mother said. Scorpius knew there was more to it but he left it alone. Patience is a virtue and all that.

They were silent for a while, just enjoying each other's company while they had it. 

"You know," his father began, breaking the calm silence, "Potter broke his arm while he was-" 

"Ugh!" Both Scorpius and his mother said, equally tired of the man's endless theories and tirades of the Saviour. 

"What? I'm just saying that Scor is an awful lot like him, I bet it's the Potter kid, corrupting my child with thoughts of pride and stupidity. Yes, that's it!-" 

He looked up at his mother, who was staring at Dad fondly, a small smile on her lips as father continued his speech. Scorpius forgot about everything outside of that room and chose to just spend time with his family. Merlin knew he needed it. 

_o0o_

He was going to die in that room. 

It was decided. He would waste away in this brightly coloured room. Death was waiting behind the heavy wooden doors to his far right. 

Four days. 

He hasn't done anything in four days, his brain was going to explode from how bored he was. Pomfrey had said he had reacted strangely to the Healing spells so she wanted to keep an eye on him for a while. 

He was going to die. 

He could feel it in his very soul. The only joy in his day came from when Rose brought him notes from his missed lessons along with a new pile of books. Why he wasn't a Ravenclaw he would never know. 

He was staring at the ceiling, wondering how many rabbits it would take to take over the world, when the doors opened. He expected Madam Pomfrey, or maybe a frightened first year who had accidentally sprouted gills or something. What he didn't expect was a strangely familiar blond boy to swagger through the door and walk straight over to Scorpius' bed. 

"Hello," the boy said with the slightest French accent. He wouldn't have noticed if not for how much time he himself had spent in France as a child. His parents loved to travel. They used to go there for the first week of May, as well as through the year to visit Grandmother, but it was always fun in their tiny villa in May. Even though his dad was always sad, Scorpius always thought that it was because he didn't like the country or something. He missed the villa, they hadn't been back since Scorpius was sent off to Hogwarts.

"Hi," he replied, trying to remember where he had seen the boy before. He looked slightly older, fifteen or sixteen maybe. His eyes a clear blue and his skin lightly tanned. His blond hair was swept to the side over his face. 

"Do you know who I am?" He had a slight smirk on his face and Scorpius felt disgustingly young as the blue eyes swept over his prone body. Slowly he sat up and cast an eye to the other blond.

"Not entirely," He answered, still unsure of the boy. 

"Names Louis," The name sounded familiar, but Scorpius still couldn't place him, he was sure Rose had mentioned him once or twice. 

"Scorpius," He replied. His watch told him that it was still dinner, so Albus and Rose wouldn't come to see him for at least thirty minutes. That was more than enough time for him to be murdered by this strange boy. 

"Don't worry, I know who you are... Have your friends told you about what happened to James Potter yet?" He asked as he sat with his legs crossed on the edge of Scorpius' bed. 

Scorpius was too curious to tell him to move, so he let him be. 

"No...what happened to him?" He was pretty sure that if James had found out that he was behind the broom incident he would already be dead. What could have happened in the past four days to warrant this unexpected visitor?

"Well, after the match he found out that Albus Potter was behind him losing the match and accused you of, I believe he said, 'corrupting his innocent little brother'." Despite the boys jovial tone he looked worried. Scorpius paled. 

"Is Al okay? It wasn't him, it was my fault, I promise I-" 

"Albus is fine, he's in the Great Hall right now stuffing his face. His brother is a little worse for wear though," Louis' lip drew up in a slight smirk. He grinned at Scorpius, his smile was infectious and Scorpius found himself smiling along with him. Thank God Al was alright.

Then what he said kicked in, "Wait, what happened to James?"

The boy frowned slightly, his pale eyebrows knitting together, "You call him James?" He asked. Scorpius found that a rather strange question. What else was he supposed to call him? He said the last bit out loud and the boys frown deepened.

"I don't know...Potter or something," 

"That makes me sound too much like my dad," 

The boy gave him a strange look before breathing a little laugh. His mouth curving up again. 

"What happened to him then?" Scorpius asked, looking up into his eyes.

"Someone punched him in the face," Scorpius' eyes widened and his mouth dropped. How had Al not mentioned this when he came round only a few hours ago? Who punched him? A thousand other questions swam through his mind as the boy stared at him.

"Wha-why?" He finally asked, staring at the other boys amused face. 

"Because he was saying things about you. He said a whole load of shit about you, I guess the bloke who punched him had gotten tired of it," the boy shrugged, but his anger shone through his nonchalant disguise. 

"What was he saying?" Scorpius asked quietly, he had an idea of what would have been said but he needed to be sure. It felt important somehow.

The boy suddenly became shy, his head dropped and he played with a stray piece of thread near his foot.

It was quiet for a while. Scorpius didn't want to push him or risk the possibility of scaring him away. Finally the boy spoke, voice quiet and hesitant. "He called you Death Eater, an- and a poof and I- the bloke, he got sick of it I guess. He said that he was gay, and that if he had a problem with you then he had a problem with him," 

"Oh yeah?" Scopius asked, his tone was even and steady but inside he was freaking out. How did James know? Scorpius had never told anyone. Not even Rose, and they told each other everything -well, almost everything. So how the hell did James flipping Potter know! "So what did James do?" 

The boy let out a breathy laugh again, "He didn't do anything for a while, just stood there looking surprised. Then he said that... He said that the bloke wasn't his family anymore, so the bloke punched him right in the nose, broke it too," His smile was sad, filled with pain and self loathing. Scorpius reached out his hand and gripped the others hand. He wasn't entirely sure why, but he knew that was how most people comforted eachother. Scorpius was never good at that sort of stuff. Whenever he was upset he would lock himself away with only scented candles and Spiderman for company. 

"It was you, wasn't it?" He asked after a while, the Hospital Wing was quiet and the colours seemed to have dimmed somehow, as if the life had been sucked out of them.

Louis nodded, not looking up from their joined hands. 

"Wait-you said family." Suddenly Scorpius realised who the boy was. How could he have been so stupid! Of course it was him. It had to be, it was-

"Louis Weasley, at your service. Luckily the ginger haired gene skipped a generation when it got to me." 

"You punched your own cousin in the face?" Scorpius practically shouted, mouth hung open. This had to be the weirdest week of his life. "What is wrong with you?" 

The boy let out a real laugh this time and the force of it shook through his body, "He deserved it. We've been saying that someone ought to teach him a lesson for ages. He's spoiled as fuck, that one is," He said once he was done laughing. 

"Language," he chastised softly, because he was Narcissa Malfoy's son after all.

The boy smiled at him and finally let go of his hand, "I've got to go," he stood up, giving Scorpius a strange look before walking toward the door. The younger boy didn't know what to do, so he just stared at the boys retreating back.

"See you around Scorpius," the boy gave him a wink before closing the door behind him.

Scorpius just sat there, staring at the door and wondering when his life had become so crazy.

"What the hell was that?" He asked the empty room.

No answer came to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh, so many things have happened. The World is changing around us, what even is life? Woah, deep thoughts there buddy. Anyway, hope you liked it! All comments welcome :D 
> 
> Also been really busy so on the off chance there is spelling mistakes then I please your forgiveness and when I'll correct them. Byeee


	5. Footsteps and Honey

Scorpius was having a good week.

It was the nearly the end of the term and Halloween decorations littered the school. Halloween had always been Scorpius' favourite holiday. He had always loved the disguises and costumes. Even as a child he had been fascinated by the holiday. He and Luke would always go trick or treating and Scorpius would give his friends all of his sweets. He only ever went for the costumes.

He woke up on Monday an hour earlier than usual so he got to watch the sunrise from the window. Then he showered and even had time to wander the castle for a while before meeting Albus in the Great Hall. 

Rose wasn't feeling very good so he sat alone for most of his lessons and he found the change oddly refreshing. He loved Rose more than anything but sometimes she could be a bit overbearing. 

He sat in silence near the back, either staring out of the window or at the back of someone's head. He drew doodles on his parchment and made tiny paper doves that flew out of the window whenever the professor's back was turned. 

And Tuesday started well too, he had gotten his homework done early and he was able to sleep in for a while. Then after class Albus had gotten a letter and went off to read it so Scorpius had been able to sit next to the lake in a comfortable silence that was only broken by the crunch of fallen leaves and the pleasant sound of the lake rippling with the telling chill that Autumn brought. 

Wednesday wasn't looking so good though. He had overslept and missed breakfast, lost twenty house points and had managed to somehow offend Al because the boy hadn't so much as looked at him all day. Plus all of his professors had decided that he deserved enough homework to drown in. 

"Rose... Rose? Hello, anyone up there?" He asked his dazed companion from where they were sat in the dark crimson common room.

"Oh, sorry just... thinking, what do you need?" She shook her head as if to clear it, before looking up at him.

"How many times do you stir the potion anti-clockwise after adding the powdered asphodel root thing?" He asked, scribbling notes in the margin of his book. 

"You don't, it's twice clockwise." 

He huffed, crossing out half of his work. Potions was stupid anyway, Scorpius could just live off his inheritance. Education was overrated. Pushing his books away he stood and stretched his tired limbs. 

"Fancy some chess?" He asked with a yawn.

"I'm tired. I'll play you tomorrow though. Going to turn in I think...bye," Scorpius waved a goodbye to the girl and sat back down in front of the fire. 

He was staring at the flames, his brain wonderfully blank, when the portrait opened and Al came through. He looked pale. 

The boy fell into the seat across from him and dropped his head into his hands.

"What's wrong?" Scorpius asked, still staring at the flames.

"Nothing," the brunette snapped, gazing intently at his shoes.

"Okay," the blond didn't say anything else. Patience always worked best with Al. They sat in silence while Scorpius stared at his friend out of the corner of his eye. 

His gaze was heavy and his head hung low on his shoulders. His mouth was tight and rigid as if it were a jagged scar across his face. His once bright eyes had become quiet and muted. Hands pulled anxiously at themselves, his fingers crossed over each other and the brunettes nails were red from where he had chewed them. He looked rough.

Scorpius knew the boy well though. He knew that Albus would never tell him what was wrong this soon. He would bottle it deep until he would eventually explode in a spray of anger and pent up frustration. 

Scorpius had always thought that Albus was like fire in some ways. His anger would start slow, sparks flying before it would grow and manifest. It would feed from the snapped twigs and dry leaves before setting everything in its path ablaze. He would burn mercilessly and wouldn't stop until the world was dead and cold, and only then he would calm down. The flames would flicker to non existence and only leave ash and a bitter taste on your tongue.

But Scorpius could tell that this was different. This was new. 

Albus' anger wasn't growing, it wasn't changing or forming, it simply sat. It sat like something that was cold. Like something that was dead. Scorpius could see the pain and the fire pulling at the boys chest, he could see with harsh clarity the darkness to which he was falling into. 

Scorpius wasn't waiting for an explosion. He knew the boy sat in front of him wouldn't just snap. This pain ran deeper. Albus wouldn't shout or scream; he wouldn't lash out or destroy; nor would he run or hide. Instead he would sit on the red upholstery and let the darkness swallow him.

Scorpius wasn't waiting for an explosion. He was waiting for Albus' fire to burn out.

_o0o_

Albus wasn't speaking to him. 

It was official.

Scorpius was sure that is wasn't in spite or because he had done something wrong, because Albus never got mad at him when he did things wrong. In fact he had often said that he was too lazy to hold grudges. And in the few times Albus had ignored him for a long period of time it was always because he had messed up spectacularly, like the time he had accidentally set all of the brunettes Potions revision on fire. And seen as though the boy had refused to study with him after that certain incident there was no possibility of him mucking up brought to warrant the silent treatment.

He asked Rose, who had been alone in a quiet alcove when he had found her, what was wrong with their friend. She had just shrugged and said it wasn't her story to tell. She told him that Albus would work his way through it and he would be okay, but that he needed some time alone to figure everything out.

That didn't make the fact Albus wasn't speaking to him any easier though.

They were supposed to be friends, they were supposed to tell each other everything. Sure Scorpius had a few secrets but he knew that if he was upset he could talk to Al or Rose. Al was clearly hurting, he showed it clear as day on the tense lines on his forehead and his dull eyes that were devoid of life. 

It hurt too that Albus had told Rose and not him. Of course he knew that they would never be as close as the two cousins, he wasn't an idiot. He was just their friend, but they were family. So he wasn't mad, but that didn't mean he wasn't upset about it. 

The novelty of sitting alone in class broke down after a few days of Rose being sick and Albus being quiet. 

He didn't outright avoid him or anything and they still spoke in passing, but they had lost their in depth conversations and their jokes. He sat alone at the Gryffindor table instead of with his friends. He sat next to the Great Lake instead of in the Library with Rose. He wandered aimlessly instead of to the Slytherin dungeons. 

Scorpius feared that he was losing his purpose. 

Because who was he without his friends? He was a stranger, even to himself. He was silent instead of quiet, he was distracted instead of day dreaming, he was alone instead of a wallflower. Without his friends he had lost his meaning. Was he so co-dependent that he could not live with himself? Who even was he when he was not around others? 

For a lonely person he never spent much time alone.

It was on Saturday that Scorpius broke. He couldn't walk around like the half awake soul he had become. He knew he needed to get Al to talk to him, for both of their sakes. 

He found the boy near the Forbidden Forest, Scorpius himself had never been in there -he would rather his head not be bitten off by crazed animals, thanks- but Albus went in enough for the both of them.

"Why are you ignoring me?" He asked, voice firm. At least he hoped so.

Albus turned and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Hello," the dark haired boy had said.

Scorpius just gave him a stern look.

"I'm sorry... I've been ...distracted lately," he rubbed the back of his neck and Scorpius took pity on him.

"Fine. What's wrong then?" 

"Nothing is wrong Scor," the boy heaved a sigh, eyes tired and empty.

"Actually, there are quite a few things that are wrong. The view on body image and self worth in society, the fact that there are still people around the world that are literally starving to death and the belief that chocolate m&m's are better than peanut. And that's just to name a few."

"Enough with the sass. It isn't becoming of you," Albus said, a tight smile on his lips that contrasted to his tired eyes. "Plus I have no idea what m&m 's are so you should really work on your references."

Scorpius just gave him a concerned look.

"I know what you're thinking, and yes I know that I haven't exactly been... accommodating lately, but I am fine. I promise," he gave Scorpius a weak smile that dripped with barely concealed pain.

He looked closely at his friend. He took in his dark, tired, unsure eyes and the lines on his face. He wasn't okay. They both knew it, in fact Scorpius was even going to tell him so, but the blond caught the desperation in Al's muted green eyes and chose to bite his tongue.

"You would tell me right? If there was something wrong... you would tell me?" 

"Of course Scor. Of course."

Scorpius nodded and carried on walking. 

"Scor," Albus asked and Scorpius turned again to find his friend hadn't even moved.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to come to my house in the holidays?" 

Scorpius blanched. Go to Al's house? Had he heard right? 

"You want me to come to your house?" He failed to keep the disbelief out of his voice, he had never been good at masking his emotions well, much to his father's disappointment. 

"Obviously," Albus said. He spoke as if he was talking about the weather and not asking one of the most important questions that the blond had ever heard. "Do you want to come?" 

Scorpius had no idea how to answer. The only friend's house he had been to was Luke's and he was pretty sure that was somewhat pathetic for a fourteen year old. But this was Albus. Aka Albus _Potter _, Golden Boy's child, The Chosen One's kid, take your pick. He was Scorpius Malfoy. Death Eater's son. How could Scorpius Malfoy go to Albus Potter's house? He had to say no, he simply had to, his dad would kill him if he agreed.__

__But apparently his mouth didn't get the memo, as he had already said yes before he was even aware he was doing so._ _

__"Really, you'll come?" Albus asked with a broad grin._ _

__Scorpius was wondering if he was possessed as his head started nodding without his permission._ _

__Al grinned and wrapped his arms around Scorpius in a tight hug as Scorpius tried not to have a heart attack._ _

__"It's going to be amazing, I promise. We can have a big dinner and I'll introduce you to everyone. Rose will be ecstatic, Mum will love you but Grandma might try to stuff you with food, she tends to do that. But to be honest you are very skinny, do you even eat? Oh I can introduce you to our dog, you'll love him, even though you're a weird cat person and-"_ _

__At this point Scorpius completely switched off and tried to pin point the moment his life went crazy. He seemed to be doing that a lot._ _

__They broke apart when they entered the school, Albus made an excuse about forgetting his homework and left with a wide smile and a wave._ _

__Scorpius didn't even try to stop him._ _

___o0o__ _

__There was a feast on the last day of term. Albus and Rose sat around the other Weasleys, it was a tradition, they sat at the far end of the table. The whole family was lighting up the hall with boisterous laughter and shouting. Scorpius was sat at the other side of the table, alone and trying to sink into his chair; also a tradition._ _

__The Weasley family were a strange bunch. They were mainly ginger but with a pinch of blond and brown thrown in. At least their ties had slight variety though, Rose had told him that all Weasleys were put in Gryffindor ages ago but now they were filtered around everywhere._ _

__He was wondering if he could sneak another Yorkshire pudding when someone sat down next to him._ _

__"Hello Scorpius," the voice said, making Scorpius jump so high he nearly fell out of his chair._ _

__He couldn't be blamed really, he hadn't expected it; nobody sat next to Scorpius Malfoy on the last day of term, it was an unspoken rule._ _

__"Woah there Scor, settle down." The boy said and finally Scorpius turned to look at him._ _

__"Louis?" He asked, slack jawed._ _

__"The one and only," he said with a wink that Scorpius didn't want to think too deeply about._ _

__"What are you doing here?"_ _

__Louis merely shrugged in reply and stole some broccoli from Scorpius' plate. For shame!_ _

__"Real question is, how do the House Elves make food this good?" Louis asked around a mouthful Scorpius' precious broccoli. Scorpius was still too shocked to answer._ _

__"I thought you would be with your family," Scorpius said, choosing to ignore the House Elf thing, he was pretty sure it was rhetorical anyway._ _

__Again the boy just shrugged, stealing more of Scorpius' food, the boy must like broccoli._ _

__Finally he gave up, his life was insane anyway, why not be insane with company?_ _

__"Get your own plate," he huffed, reaching for that Yorkshire pudding, if he was going to go insane he would do so happy and with a stomach. Insane _and _hungry is just no way to live.___ _

____"Why don't you have any meat? No wonder you're so skinny if you get no protein," Louis said, poking Scorpius' arm._ _ _ _

____The younger boy rolled his eyes, like he hadn't heard that before. "I'm a vegetarian, so sorry for not being a murderer. And keep your hands to yourself, it's impolite."_ _ _ _

____The boy just did that strange breathy laugh and stared at Scorpius with a strange look. It made Scorpius uneasy._ _ _ _

____"Albie tells us that you are coming over for a while in the holidays," Louis said while reaching for a sausage, "He says that we all must be on our 'best behaviour'."_ _ _ _

____Scorpius nodded, unsure what to say around the boy, he was strange and confusing. Everything he said seemed to have a hidden meaning, Scorpius found it rather tiring._ _ _ _

____"Your very quiet, you know." Louis said out of the blue._ _ _ _

____"Really? I never noticed,"_ _ _ _

____The boy let out a laugh and Scorpius found himself smiling, mainly out of habit._ _ _ _

____They sat in silence for a while until the other boy spoke up again, and evil grin on his face, "Hey, you want to make James really mad?"_ _ _ _

____Scorpius didn't, if he was being frank, but again his mouth had a mind of its own. He should get that checked out, it was happening a lot lately. Maybe someone had cursed him._ _ _ _

____"How?"_ _ _ _

____Instead of answering Louis just grinned and grabbed Scorpius' hand before he heaved him up so harshly he practically fell into the older boys chest._ _ _ _

____'He is awfully warm.' Was Scorpius' first thought, but he chose to not to think to deeply about it. Thinking was never good._ _ _ _

____With an undignified squeak Scorpius was practically dragged out of his chair and past the entire Weasley family. Scorpius tried to pull his hand out of Louis' bigger one but his grip was too strong so Scorpius focused on not falling flat on his face while trying to keep up with Louis' long legs._ _ _ _

____Suddenly Louis' face was next to Scorpius' and the boys breath was in his ear. "Look at James," he spoke quietly, his voice disturbingly close to Scorpius._ _ _ _

____Slowly, Scorpius' eyes drifted over the table until his gaze locked with the brown orbs of the eldest Potter. His eyes were ablaze with fury. The golden honey of his eye twirled around darker shades of brown like an intricate painting. His dark eyes seemed to pierce Scorpius, making the blond gasp slightly. His eyes spoke volumes and Scorpius didn't even need to see the rest of his face to tell he was angry. His eyes always lit up when he was annoyed and right now they were practically on fire._ _ _ _

____Even though they only locked eyes for a few seconds it felt like forever to Scorpius._ _ _ _

____But all too soon their eyes were dragged apart as Louis manoeuvred him out of the hall._ _ _ _

____Loud laughter pulled Scorpius out of his dazed state and he looked around to see Louis bent over and leaning on the wall for support._ _ _ _

____"What?" Scorpius asked, anxious of whether or not Louis had caught him staring._ _ _ _

____"J-James h-he looked so p-pissed," Louis gasped, wiping tears from his eyes, "That was hilarious... Hey why aren't you laughing?" His humorous expression turned confused._ _ _ _

____"Why was he so angry?" Scorpius turned back towards the closed doors, half expecting James to burst through and hex Scorpius into next week. When he turned back to Louis he was no longer smiling._ _ _ _

____"You don't know?"_ _ _ _

____"Know what?" Scorpius said, walking towards the older boy._ _ _ _

____"Nothing. Come on, let's go back to the tower, I still need to finish packing."_ _ _ _

____"You go. I need to go to the Library," Scorpius said, he didn't really but he decided he would rather not be alone with the boy. He wasn't really sure why he didn't trust the older boy, he just didn't feel right._ _ _ _

____Louis looked him up and down before nodding and leaving with a quiet farewell. Scorpius listened to his footsteps until they faded to silence._ _ _ _

____Scorpius stood in the hallway for a long time after that, staring at the wall and thinking about footsteps and honey._ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I have had such a busy week you would not believe, and there is a dog barking outside of my house so I can't sleep. Anyway, hope you are having a wonderful life bye! Xxx


	6. The Little Boy in The Room

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is just a quickie ;) but still I hope you enjoy :)))

_The room was dark when the little boy woke up._

_Chains hung from the cold stone walls and the iron door showed that escape was impossible. So he sat shaking as the seconds ticked by on a clock that the little boy's eyes could not find._

_The room was freezing cold with a deep chill that he felt in his bones. The cold shook through him and made his teeth chatter. He would have been able to see his breath in the room if it wasn't so dark._

_It smelled bad too, like rotten meat and lots of other foul things. The smell pierced him so suddenly that he began to cough, the noise vibrated through him and had him bent over himself in an attempt to soften the hard bangs that rattled through his chest. He could almost taste the sickening stench in the back of his throat._

_When he had calmed down he slowly looked around to stare at the room's interior in more detail._

_The room was damp and moss grew among abandoned cobwebs and other disgusting things. The harsh walls were littered with tiny holes made from fingernails and the floor was hard under the boy, both were a dull grey that sucked the life out of the stale air. Dirt covered every surface and the boy wouldn't be surprised if bugs began to crawl out of their hiding places._

_He looked down at himself, expecting the warm robes he had worn earlier that day but instead his eyes found himself in faded grey rags. They almost fell off his shoulders and altogether making him look much slimmer than he actually was._

_There were no windows and the only light in the room came from the gap inbetween the door and the gravel. It poured life into the otherwise lifeless room and gave the boy the hope that had previously been stolen from him._

_Then, his eyes once again found the chains that hung to his left. They were attached to the wall by steel clasps and showed the rust that came with age. The boy couldn't see them in much detail from that far away, though he was sure that the dark colouring on the metal was more than rust._

_The room itself was quite small, the boy guessed it was around fifteen steps long and ten steps wide. But then again the boy still had very small feet, he was only seven after all._

_The boy was very smart for his age; top of all his classes and could count to 100 if given the opportunity, he had even read a grown up book once. But despite all that he could not fathom exactly how he had gotten himself into that dark room. In fact he couldn't remember anything past going into that crowded Quidditch shop with his parents._

_The boy looked again at the light escaping from the iron door and wondered when the panic would kick in._

_The door looked heavy and unlike the rest of the room it was new and shone slightly in the low light. It held no scratches or chips and stood proudly against its hinges._

_He tried to stand so to go towards it but instead he felt a solid weight against his ankle, pulling him back to the ground. Soon he had lost his balance and had banged his head on the wall as he fell backwards. He opened his mouth to let out a yelp but no sound left him. He couldn't speak._

_Experimentally he tried to say hello but no sound escaped him. He tried again and again but nothing worked. Soon he was shouting at the top of his lungs but still no sound came. He felt his throat strain and his lips forming the words but still there was nothing but bitter silence._

_He could not speak._

_His breathing picked up and his fingers scratches mercilessly at his lips, expecting them to be bound shut but instead his fingers found nothing but flesh. He screamed silently, his breath coming out ragged. He couldn't speak. He couldn't speak. He could not speak._

_In blind terror he rattled the chains on his leg, desperate for any noise that would break the putrid silence he had found himself in._

_Why couldn't he speak? He remembered speaking that morning. But was it even that morning? It could have been days since that special day out._

_Urgently he looked down at his hands to find them also in chains. His fingers were numb and blue but they were still his own. His palms were small and held the tiny scar he had gotten when he fell off his training broom last year. He was still himself. He would be fine. He was going to be okay._

_But he still couldn't speak._

_He couldn't talk. He couldn't scream. He couldn't yell, he couldn't shout. He could not speak._

_He was hyperventilating, the room was going blurry and his skull was shrinking. He felt like his brain trapped in an iron grip that reached down to his lungs, enclosing them in it's icy hands. The long tendrils slivered down his throat like coiling snakes and pulled at his heart strings as if plucking a harp._

_His eyes were wide in horror and he felt as if he would pass out, the whole world forgotten expect for the hell he had fallen into._

_The boy was about to faint when light filled the room, a saving grace that threw the darkness away. Banishing it far away from the scared, silent, naive boy. Voices erupted from the silence but the boy could only focus on the light, now hidden behind the dark silhouettes of people._

_He stared at the light with an unstoppable determination as the voices crowded around him. The little boy was terrified but he knew the light would save him, because anything that the light brought would be better than the dead darkness that had nearly swallowed him._

_Slowly the world came back to him, first the light brought colour and then with it followed a deep, masculine voice that filled the boy's ears._

_"-and don't you even think about moving kid, or else Malum will rip ya' guts out. Now stay still and wait, you insolent prat...You're just like your father, a self centred fool who thinks he's better than everyone else. Well he's not, he's just the same as us, he isn't a hero and he is in no way good, I don't care what the papers say. You are just like him, looks and all. You disgust me." The man said before leaving, locking the door and the light away with him. His voice was harsh and cold, just like the walls that were closing in around him._

_His eyes had shone a dark grey, like molten silver, and his face was bruised and scarred. He was terrifying. Soon he was left alone in darkness. The quiet was his only friend._

_The boy didn't make a sound as he lost consciousness. ___

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh such mystery, much suspense 
> 
> Long chapter next, filled with fluffy goodness and happy times
> 
> Hope you have a wonderful week and I love you all c:


	7. The Glass Theory

Scorpius had never really seen the point of the Hogwarts Express. It was long and pointless and incredibly boring. There were so many better ways to travel: Floo, Apparating, hell even Ryanair was better than the metal death trap the train truly was. And no, he wasn't bitter about having to ride the train alone in his first year, not at all.

He and Albus talked most of the way while Rose sat on the other side staring at a book. When they reached the station they both gave him a hug and a promise to owl about when Scorpius was coming round, the blond just nodded quickly and tried to look for his mother. Father didn't like to come to the crowded station.

They were halfway through the drive home when Scorpius interrupted his mother's tirade about how completely useless 'Jennifer at the office' was.

"I've been invited around to someone's house," he said in a rush, staring at the space in-between his mother's eyes and the two neon pink dice that hung from the rear view mirror.

"Oh yeah?" She glanced at him from the corner of her bright eyes. "You want to go?" 

"Yes," he wasn't great at beating around the bush.

"Okay, I want to owl their parents first though," she said, giving him a proud smile that she half-heartedly tried to hide.

"Obviously."

"Obviously," she agreed. He figured he could tell her who's house it was later. After all, she hadn't asked.

Her fingernails dug into the steering wheel as they curved around a corner dangerously; she had a lot of road rage for such a calm woman. Rose had been surprised when he had told her that his parents chose to drive instead of travel magically. Apparently Pureblood families didn't usually do that. 

They got home quickly and dad was already cooking dinner when they arrived.

"Ahhh, the prodical son has returned eh?" His father said when he entered, a poorly hidden smile on his face.

"Wow, I didn't think you knew that word. Have you finally grown a brain? Mum and I have been suggesting you do that for a while now," Scorpius retorted, giving the taller blond a tight hug. 

Father's hugs were always too tight, like he was afraid of letting go. Scorpius didn't mind though.

"No, he just heard me saying it the other day. Like a little parrot that one is," his mother said, rolling her eyes and pulling on her husband's apron.

His father just huffed and fixed the bright pink fluffy apron before turning back to where he was cutting carrots. The man was an excellent cook, he said it was basically like Potions but with more fire. He loved it. He was a bit of an anarchist like that.

"If you're going to be a bully then you can get out of my kitchen," He pointed to the sign that hung on the door. 'Negativity Free Zone' it chirped happily. Mum just laughed at him and kissed the man's cheek. 

Scorpius stood and watched them both like the creep he was. He had always wished for a marriage like his parents had. They truly belonged together, they fit like puzzle pieces. The boy struggled to hold back a smile as he stared at his parents who were so in love he should have found it repulsive. 

Dinner was filled with everyone trading stories, Scorpius was careful to address his both Al and Rose as 'my friend' just like every year. His parents never pushed him to say names. 

"Scorpy here has been invited round to someone house," Mum said as Dad brought in desert, cheese cake with strawberry sauce. Honestly, Gordan Ramsey himself would be rendered speechless by his dad's cooking. 

A widening of grey eyes was the only reaction his father revealed, instead choosing to nod and take a bite of his desert.

"Who is it?" He asked, voice steady and eyes set on his plate.

Damn.

"A close friend," Scorpius chose his words carefully, still trying to gauge his father's reaction.

"Well imagine that," his mother said, clearly trying to break the tension, "I thought that Argus Filch had invited you to come round for a play date."

"Please don't use the words Filch and play date in the same sentence," Scorpius took another bite of his food but all the flavour had left the offending cake. It was a shame too. Damn good cake it was.

"Who is it?" His father asked again, his voice held a hint of urgency.

Scorpius was terrified.

"Albus Potter," He said as he wondered if Luke's mother would adopt him if he were disowned.

Silence followed his words. 

This was the end, his life would be over. He would have to live on the streets, alone and penniless. Where was the humanity? 

"You owe me a twenty," his mother's voice dragged him out of his self pity. 

His father huffed and tugged a twenty pound note out of his pocket and passed it to his wife with a scowl. 

"Why couldn't the Weasley girl have invited you round to her little hovel first, I needed that twenty for some new boots, I had them reserved and everything." His father scowled further while Mum just laughed.

Scorpius had no idea what was going on.

"What are you talking about? You're rich as heck, your family literally own a manor _and _a pent house in Brussels." Mum laughed while slipping her winnings into her back pocket.__

__"What is going on?" Scorpius asked once he came back to his senses. Was he dreaming? This could not be real._ _

__"You didn't think we were _complete _idiots did you?" His mother asked him before sending a disbelieving look at his father once she realised what she had said.___ _

____"What do you mean?" He said over his father's offended gasp._ _ _ _

____Dad scoffed, his eyes mid roll when Scorpius turned to him, "You seriously can't believe that we wouldn't figure it out eventually?" When he saw the confused look in his sons face he continued, "You talked endlessly about your friends but never mentioned names, so it was someone we knew."_ _ _ _

____"And you bristled every time your father talked about Harry Potter, so obviously it was one of his kids. It couldn't have been the girl becomes she was too young, and the eldest was unlikely because I doubt you would ever have talked to him so I guessed Albus-" his mother continued with a proud grin._ _ _ _

____"And if you were friends with him then you would have obviously have been tricked into befriending the mini-she-Weasel- I umm, I mean Rose," Dad corrected after a stern look from Mum._ _ _ _

____"So... So you knew?" Scorpius couldn't believe this. They had known! He had spent three years worried and scared when they had already _known. _They were making bets for goodness sake!___ _ _ _

______They both nodded and Scorpius just stared at his food, having a tiny identity crisis._ _ _ _ _ _

______It was just like any other family dinner really._ _ _ _ _ _

______Finally he excused himself and went to his room. It was the same as always._ _ _ _ _ _

______It was the same door with Scorpius' height measured over time, each getting further and further up the door. He traced the same lines on the same walls as he walked passed them, retracing the same memories of the same house he had grown up in._ _ _ _ _ _

______Everything was the same, from the chipped bookcase standing by his bed to the neglected cello that sat in the corner of his dark ruby coloured bedroom._ _ _ _ _ _

______It was the same desk that he had once done his maths homework at. It was the same chair that Mum would sit in when she read him bedtime stories, because some days she worked so late he had hardly gotten to see her. It was the same dance trophies on the bookcase. It was even the same Weird Al poster above his bed._ _ _ _ _ _

______Everything was the same, except nothing had ever felt more different._ _ _ _ _ _

_______o0o__ _ _ _ _ _

______"So you broke your whole arm?" Luke asked from somewhere behind him, he could hear the worry dripping from his voice._ _ _ _ _ _

______"Yeah," Scorpius replied from where he was laid on the boys bed and staring at the ceiling. "Some idiot knocked right into me,"_ _ _ _ _ _

______"Are you okay?" Sarah asked urgently from next to him, grabbing his face in her two hands and inspecting him as if looking for injury._ _ _ _ _ _

______"No actually, there's some crazy woman squeezing his face and he's getting really creeped out," Luke answered for him. He wasn't that wrong really._ _ _ _ _ _

______"Oh shut up, Gassy," she scowled but nevertheless let go of his face -thank the Lord, she had a grip like a vice, that one._ _ _ _ _ _

______"Honestly, you let one off _once _and you get stuck with that name forever," Although he couldn't see him, Scorpius was pretty sure Luke was pouting. Then again, Scorpius wasn't sure if there was anytime when his friend wasn't pouting.___ _ _ _ _ _

________"You farted in a completely silent award ceremony while attempting to give a speech." Scorpius laughed, feeling a pang of regret at not being able to have been there. Sometimes he wondered if being magical was even worth it._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Shut it you, we both know farting calms me down," he muttered._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________They sat in a comfortable silence, listening to the calm music flowing out of the speakers. He turned to look at Luke, who smiled happily at him as their eyes met._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He and his sister looked very much alike, both with dark brown hair and skin. Their noses were both slightly off centre and both with a sprinkle of freckles over their faces. But Sarah's cheekbones were more prominent and Luke's grin more crooked._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Change this song, it's horrible," Scorpius finally said. "It's 2019, who listens to Britney Spears anymore?" Sarah gasped loudly and Luke rolled his eyes._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He got that from Scorpius._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"I still can't imagine you playing rugby, not with your skinny arse." Sarah spoke up, squinting her eyes at Scorpius, "Even Luke is stronger than you, and that's saying something."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Scorpius gulped slightly, he always found it difficult to lie to the two siblings, he had been friends with them since he was four years old. They practically taught him how to lie._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"First of all, offended much? I'm way stronger than Luke," they both ignored the other boys shout of outrage and Scorpius continued, "Secondly, my arse is perfectly rounded and I have often been told it is my best feature, thank you very much. Thirdly, everyone else is really big and tall so I just squeeze right past them. Works every time."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________It wasn't exactly a lie, because a lot of tall people played Quidditch and he sometimes Scorpius did have to squeeze through people. Plus he _did _have a fantastic arse.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Sarah just nodded, her expression more worried than anything, "Well then, let's get your 'perfectly rounded' bottom out of the door. You're way too pale, you need to get yourself some vitamin D," She paused to give him a wink before striding towards the door and clapping her hands together dramatically. "We're going on an adventure."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Scorpius and Luke both moaned at the thought of movement._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Come on guys, or else I'll tell mum that it was you two who blew up the shed when you were eight."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Both boys were off the bed and following Sarah in a matter of seconds._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Nobody in their right minds would want to face an angry Mrs Smithson. Scorpius shivered at the very thought as he followed his two friends. He let a grin take over his features while staring at their backs; they couldn't see it anyway._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

___________o0o__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________The Burrow looked smaller than Albus had described it._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________It was actually quite surprising, because the Weasley family had become quite wealthy after the war. Rose had once told him that the house had been destroyed at some point but it had soon been rebuilt and even expanded._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Scorpius couldn't imagine how tiny the house had been if this was an _expansion. _____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________His mother had needed to work so reluctantly Scorpius' father had agreed to take him. He could see from the man's expression that he already regretted this, his mouth had been pulled up in a half sneer and Scorpius had to cough so to make him stop. The older blond shook his head slightly and gave his son a small, forced smile._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________With every step they took towards the house Scorpius became more and more worried. What if Albus hadn't told anyone who was coming round? What if he was kicked out? What would they do to his father? What if his dad got hurt? The last one was too disturbing to even consider so he chose to disregard it completely._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________He was going to be fine. He had a right to be here, here he wasn't Scorpius Malfoy. Here he was Al's friend. It would be fine. Maybe if he kept saying that he could make it true._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________The cluck of chickens sounded strangely daunting as they reached the door. Neither reached out to knock._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________What if no one opened the door?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Somewhere in Scorpius' brain he knew that his friend's family were kind people. He also knew that they would all accept him and wouldn't judge him prematurely. He knew that very well, and he hated to sound like a broken record but, he was _Scorpius Malfoy. _____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________He had told Rose this once, back in first year. He had only known her for a month or so, yet he trusted her with everything. She had looked at him with questions in her eyes and he had asked her if she understood. Hesitantly she had shook her head and Scorpius had been too numb to explain._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Even if he had tried to explain, he wouldn't have known what to say. What was there to say? That people didn't like him because of his dad? Or his grandfather? Scorpius knew it was more than that, because somewhere along the line Scorpius had decided he was was worthless. He didn't really know when life had changed so much._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________He could no longer remember when he had gone from a happy little boy who smiled easily to who he had become. That scared him. It scared him because he could no longer clearly remember what unconditional happiness felt like, he no longer smiled just for the sake of it. He no longer saw beauty in black lines or life in blank paper. He had become someone who was happy because others forced happiness upon him, who only smiled when he felt he should. When had he become someone who only saw darkness in those very same black lines? Or numbness in those white sheets of paper?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Of course he could smile and laugh and _feel. _But he no longer felt truly whole. He was like a half empty glass, always striving to be filled but only slowly draining out.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"We can leave if you want," A quite voice said from next to him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Scorpius was terrified of draining out like that half empty glass. Slowly evaporating over time, slowly losing itself over time. That water could still move, it could be pored but never molded. Scorpius could be persuaded but he would never be changed by anyone._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Scorpius would never let anyone change him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________He made a decision right there: in his best friends garden next to a cottage with his father staring at him, looking concerned and scared. He would no longer be stepped over and pushed aside. He would take his pain and he would carry it, he would keep it close. Because it was his, his pain was a part of him. He would be himself, because in the end the only one anyone has is themselves._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Scorpius was not a half empty glass. He was the river that flowed inside it._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________With a completely full heart Scorpius knocked on the door. Scorpius would not be afraid._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________At least not for the twenty seconds until the door opened._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________The reality of what he had done hit him like a truck as a man appeared in the doorway._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________He was quite tall with ginger hair and a long face. His features were jovial and his posture relaxed. At least it was until he registered who Scorpius and his father were. Instantly his face became stoic and his eyes ghosted over. The man was going to kick them out. He felt it at the bottom of his heart. How could he have ever believed anything could be different. It didn't matter what Scorpius thought, he was just a child._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Suddenly a smile broke out on the man's face. It only looked the slightest bit forced._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"Took your time. Al and Rosie have practically been jumping off the walls waiting for you to get here," The man said, giving Scorpius' father a small nod before turning and walking down the hall, leaving the door wide open._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Scorpius wasn't really sure what to do, he had never really been to someone's house before. With Luke and Sarah's house he would just walk in, sometimes even having dinner with their parents if they were both busy. He was practically their second son. Should he wait for the man to come back? Surely he couldn't just walk in, 'Stranger Danger' and all that jazz._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"What are you waiting for? A formally written invitation? Come on," The man said as his ginger head popped out from round the corner before disappearing again._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________He and his father shared a look before he made a decision.  
He took one step that felt like a thousand. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________When he rounded the corner after the man, barely registering his father following, he was faced with an empty living room. Where was everyone?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"Scorpius!" The aforementioned boy only had a moment to react before the solid weight that was Albus Severus Potter fell into his side, nearly knocking him over. Soon he was bombarded by his right too, a brief flash of red had been his only warning._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Scorpius was still too shocked to think, so instead he just hugged his two friends back._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"Come on, let the boy breathe," a voice said after a few seconds of hugging. Both of his friends pulled back reluctantly, their matching smiles were wide on their faces.  
"Hi," the voice said again from behind Albus, when Scorpius looked up he saw a tired looking Harry Potter._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Scorpius had never met Harry Potter before. He had seen him in newspapers and in photographs, in fact he had even seen a few of the man's statues (they were everywhere). But the whole time he had seen Harry Potter he had looked happy or proud or incredibly uncomfortable. Standing in front of him he just looked drowsy and muted._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"Hello," Scorpius said when his father made no move to say anything, "I'm Scorpius and this is my dad. Though you already know each other so I'm not really sure why I'm still talking so I'm going to stop now."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Merlin he hated social interaction._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________But instead of laughing at Scopius the man instead chose to smile. It was a soft smile with only a hint of amusement. Scorpius could see where Al got his smiles from._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Harry Potter's eyes travelled from Scorpius to look at his father, who's back was rigid and expression clearly nervous._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"It's been a while... umm, Draco," Harry Potter said and Scorpius struggled to see why his dad hated the man so much._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"Yes, it has." Scorpius' father replied. An awkward silence followed his words. Scorpius shared a worried glance with Rose just before the younger Potter spoke up._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"Dad, can we show Scor the house?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"Of course, as long as Ma- Draco and Scorpius are alright with it," the man's eyes kept doing odd glances around everyone in the room as if looking for someone who wasn't there. Scorpius found it intriguing._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Scorpius' eyes met his father's identical ones and he saw the hesitant reluctance in them as well as the well hidden fear that to everyone else would look like arrogance. Scorpius had spent his entire life deciphering his father's eyes._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"Of course," he said, giving his father a smile to reassure him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"Well alright then, I'm sure you'll hear when dinner is ready, just listen out for the stampede of kids," Harry Potter said. Scorpius should probably stop referring to him as his full name, it would soon get tiring. "And Draco, would you like to have some uhh- tea or anything?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"Come on Scor," Rose said and before Scorpius could hear his father's reply she was leading Scorpius through the house, passing various family members the whole way._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Rose and Al made comments on the house -and a few of its occupants- as they made their way through but Scorpius wasn't really paying attention._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"-when Dad forgot Mum's birthday so he stole this vase- which is bad enough- but then a whole squad of Aurors rolled up saying Dad had stolen evidence from a crime scene. It was the vase! Mum nearly killed him, it was hilarious," Rose had said as he was pushed up some rickety looking stairs. "She got to keep it though and even though she won't admit it she-"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"What is _he _doing here?" Scorpius looked up to see the form of James Sirius Potter glaring daggers at Scorpius. He would have been afraid but the whole 'arch enemy' fiasco was getting boring. He really ought to tell him to bugger off someday.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________"We invited him Jamie, so if you don't mind could you, oh I don't know, piss off maybe?" Albus said as if reading Scorpius' thoughts._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________James sputtered indignantly for a few moments as the boy behind him sneered. What was his name? All those gingers looked the same, honestly._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________"You should've wiped your shoes before you came in, it would've kept the dirt out," the other boy said, making James laugh as they both turned their scowls back to the blonde. Something inside Scorpius snapped and he honestly couldn't care anymore. He wasn't a half empty glass for Merlin's sake!_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________"Oh wow, great comeback. I bet you've been sitting on that one for a while." Scorpius stepped forward in all of his full glass glory._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________In his peripheral vision he saw Rose and Albus share a surprised glance but his gaze was locked on James'._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________A strange look passed the boys features before he opened his mouth to say something hugely bigoted and rude, (most likely) but apparently he couldn't think of anything. His mouth opened and closed like a fish._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________"Bit tongue tied are we? A welcoming change, I have to say," Scorpius said, feeling adventurous. Huh, he could get used to this full glass stuff._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________The boy was about to reply when another voice spoke up, "Hey are we having a family meeting or something over here?" Everyone's eyes turned to the right to see a tall boy with vibrant blue hair that Scorpius had never even seen before._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________'Merlin, how many Wesleys are there?' He almost asked aloud._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________"Yes we have Teddy, actually we just finished up, come along Scorpius," Rose said before tugging Scorpius' shoulder back so hard he tripped._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________She wasn't done there either, as she tugged him all the way up another hundred staircases (give or take a few) until they reached a room filled with books and Falcons posters. Rose's room then. Albus hated Quidditch._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________"What was that?" Albus shouted as soon as the door was closed._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________"What?" Scorpius asked, rubbing his injured shoulder. He made a mental note to never to get in a fight with Rose._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________"The one time you choose to fight back to my idiotic cousin is when I told you to be on your best behaviour?" Rose shook her head as if to try and understand just how idiotic Scorpius was. It would probably take a while._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________The blond boy opened his mouth, surprise written clearly across his features. They were angry? How could they be angry, they should have been proud._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________'Well what did you expect me to do? I'm tired of just letting him get his way, he's a spoilt, ignorant prat who needs to learn that the world doesn't revolve around him! I have been taking everyone else's _shit _since I came to that school and the one time I decide that I am worth more than that you say it was a bad decision? I just stood up for myself, I showed him that he can't just walk all over me, I showed everyone! What would you have done if you had to go through all that every time you went outside? How would you survive, how would you live like that?'___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________Is what he should have said._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________"Sorry, I lost myself for a minute, I'll apologise to him... if it helps," Is what he did say. His friends both sighed and he hugged them, but even the tightest hugs couldn't put him back together again. He felt his soul slip out through his toes. Leaving him alone and half empty._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____________________o0o__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________"So Scorpius, how's school going with you? Rose tells me that you're very intelligent," Hermione Granger-Weasley asked him at dinner. She was actually very nice, with a kind smile and caring eyes._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________"Oh yeah, Scor is so smart, honestly. He gets the highest grades in basically everything." Albus said, giving Scorpius a huge grin. Everything from before had been forgotten, they had 'worked it out', whatever that meant._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________In fact the whole meal Scorpius hadn't even said anything, every question directed at him had been answered by either of his friends, both eager to preach about how 'good and smart' he was._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________Conversation around the table was split, with everyone talking to each other at once. Scorpius was thankful that not all of the attention was on him. In fact the only people interested in him was the Golden Trio plus James and Co._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________Hermione Granger-Weasley kept asking him questions about school while Harry Potter probed lightly on his family life. Ron Weasley just glared at him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________So far the meal had gone better than expected, as he could only count four people glaring at him. Although he was fairly worried about how Albus' little sister was staring at him as if she were starving and he was the only food for miles. It was actually quite frightening._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________"So Scorpius, I've seen your mother around the Ministry, but not your father, what does he do for a living?" Harry Potter said while cutting up a piece of chicken._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________Albus opened his mouth but Scorpius cut him off, choosing his words carefully, "He manages the estates," Scorpius figured that would slides lot better than 'he enters my ferret, Gordon, into pet pageants where he dresses him up in frilly dresses.'_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________Harry Potter nodded while Ron Weasley muttered something under his breath._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________"Rose tells us that you enjoy Quidditch," Rose's mother began with a soft smile, "She tells me you play even better than Harry does,"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________"He actually does, no offense dad. Scor once caught the snitch when he was _upside down _and a broken left arm. He's left handed too so I don't even know how that was possible. Plus both of the chasers were shoving him. Scor is an _animal _at Quidditch. Rose said he could play pro when he's older," Albus rattled on as Scorpius sunk lower in his seat._____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________"Oh yeah? Is he really as good as your brother says he is, Jamie?" Harry Potter asked._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Oh no._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________James took a slow swallow, glaring at the table as he spat out, "He's alright, I suppose."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Scorpius let out a breath as his friends carried on answering questions for him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________James was sat to his father's left, while Albus to the man's right, with Lily next to him. Scorpius was sat across from his friend and in between Rose and her little brother, Hugo. He wondered if Albus' mother was ill as she was no where in sight._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Scorpius was actually feeling pretty good at how much socialising he had been doing. At the start of the meal he had even had a conversation with Hugo about how deforestation could affect sloth populations. He quite liked the boy actually, mainly because he was nearly as big of a cynic as Scorpius was. Plus he liked sloths, and anyone who liked sloths had to be good, it was an unspoken rule._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________So altogether, it had been a pretty good day._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________"Scorpius dear, why don't you get some meat. You're much too skinny." The elder Molly Weasley said from where she sat at the head of the table. Her voice rang out and the entire table fell into silence as everyone turned to Scorpius._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Scratch that, it was going to be the worst day of his life._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________"Actually I'm a- a vegetarian," Scorpius said quietly, willing his voice not to shake._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________"What was that dear? I'm sorry but I'm getting a little deaf in my old age," she frowned, leaning forward to hear better._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Scorpius wanted to die._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________"Vegetarian. I am one."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________He actually considered AK-ing himself right there at the dinner table._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________" _You _are a vegetarian?" Ron Weasley asked, jaw slack with shock.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________"Ronald!" His wife gave him a smack on the arm._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________"What? It's just that you wouldn't expect it from him would you, what with his family and all." Ron Weasley -he should really start using first names- snapped his mouth shut as the room filled with tension._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________Scorpius was going to ask his mother to obliviate him when he got home._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________"Thank Merlin nobody made this awkward eh?" The man who welcomed him said and Scorpius found himself laughing; he couldn't help it, he really liked that man._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________Everyone along the entire table looked at him like he was insane when he burst out laughing. Maybe he was insane, it would explain how crazy his life had gotten._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________Apparently that was the right thing to do, as everyone else started laughing hesitantly along with him after another tense moment. Eventually the whole table was laughing, even the posh one (Percy?) cracked a small smile._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________The tension leaked out of the room and the calm atmosphere slowly came back. As his eyes found Rose's his mouth turned into a grin as she smiled at him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________Well, he had only wanted to die six times that day so all in all, it had gone better than expected._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG I am so sorry this hasn't been updated in so long but we went on a spontaneous trip to fucking Rome (like wtf) and it was the best thing ever but I didn't have time to write and I had no connection so I hope you all had an epic Easter and if you don't celebrate it then I hope you had an epic week and OMFG I just remembered I have a huge french test coming up and so much revision I am gonna die so bye love you all xxx
> 
> Also there may or may not be mistakes in but I will eventually get around to editing the whole thing so I apologise in advance. Xxx

**Author's Note:**

> Hi so this is the first chapter and I hope to update it at least once a week, also all criticism is welcome. My first fic so I hope you liked it c: 
> 
> Also this is James/Scorpius fic even though James is kind of a jerk right now he gets better. Also there will be platonic Scorpius/Rose/Albus friendship in the next few chapters which will be pretty cute. Anyway, byeee


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